One-On-One With Marcus Freeman - Part One: Notre Dame Is Special, And Capable Of Winning A Championship

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman spoke with Irish Breakdown about his team heading into the 2022 season, and his view of the Irish program

This summer Irish Breakdown had a chance to sit down with Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman for a one-on-one interview. Freeman talked about his philosophy, his coaching hires and much, much more. Here is part one of that interview.

Q: How has your opinion of what Notre Dame is and what it can be, evolved or changed, if at all, in the last 18 months?

Marcus Freeman: "The love – I want to use the word love – that you have for this place grows, but what I believe you can offer young people, it’s invaluable. That’s what I’m continuing to gain over the course of this year and a half is that this place offers young people an opportunity of a lifetime. In terms of football - what you can do in terms of football – but also what you can do in terms of utilizing this degree, but also who you become. This place changes you - it really does - and for the better. That’s what you fall in love with – you see what this place can offer young people and it’s invaluable."

Q: You talked about the football piece, it’s about getting kids to the NFL, the academics, in no particular order, and then winning championships. You’re 18 months in. Has your view of Notre Dame’s ability to be a championship program changed? Is it stronger? Is it ok, we’ve got different areas we maybe have to go down? What are your thoughts on that, as you’ve embraced that part?

MF: "I believe wholeheartedly we can win national championships here. When is that going to be? That’s to be determined, but I believe this place really can attract the best players in the country. Because I believe it also offers something that nowhere else in the country can in terms of the football excellence, truly combined with the academic success. When you combine those, I don’t think there’s another place in the country that can offer young people that highest level of both of them. 

"So, it starts with players, and it starts with getting the best players in the country that fit this place. I always say it, in order to win a national championship, you have to continue to get the best players in the country. Then, you have to continue to develop a culture that I believe truly helps young people play above their God-given ability. To have an emotional aspect to it. I think you can do all that right here at Notre Dame, and that’s going to give you a chance to win national championships and I think we can do it here."

Q: As you looked at the program, obviously every coach, until you win a championship, there’s room to grow. As you looked at the program and you said, okay, here’s where we are, here’s where we need to get to ... What are the things you identified as areas where your program must continue to grow?

MF: "Well, I think it starts with talent, and it’s not a position as much as it is you always have to continue to enhance your talent. I don’t care if you have the number one recruiting class in the country or the 30th recruiting class in the country, you’re always looking for ways to enhance. That’s just not by recruiting rankings, that’s trust, kids that you can trust. Talent, kids that have amazing talent. But also kids that are going to be able to truly elevate your program, elevate others, elevate themselves. 

"That’s one of the areas we have to continue to enhance. We have to continue to enhance in terms of our coaching staff. How do we take this group of individuals that we have here and push each other to make us better coaches. The weight room, how do we make our strength and nutrition better? I believe we got the best in the country. We have the best strength coach in the country in my opinion (in Matt Balis). How do we continue to make him better, and then how to we continue to develop a culture that we can improve at? Those are to me the ways that’s … it’s a consistently improving, never satisfied mentality. That’s what challenge everything means, and I think that’s what is going to help us immediately be able to compete with those best teams in the country."

Q: As you started to put your staff together, what were some things you looked at and said beyond just you wanted Al Washington or Chansi Stuckey or whoever – more of a bigger picture – what were the objectives? There seemed to be some themes and some consistencies with all the guys that you hired. What was your objective as you looked to put that staff together?

MF: "One, I leaned on our offensive coordinator. We didn’t have a defensive coordinator at the time, and so I leaned on Tommy Rees and said, 'Ok, here’s the things I’m looking for when we bring in guys. I want to lean on you. To empower you as the offensive coordinator.' 

"The three things I’m looking for is one, they love young people. I’m not looking for just a scheme guy. I want a guy who loves young people, because that’s how I am and that’s how we have to be. We have to love these kids and care about them. But two, I need the scheme guy, a guy that’s going to make players at their position better. Like, he can’t love kids and not make them better, and you can’t just make them better but not love them. And so, those are important. This guy has to know what he’s talking about. 

"And three, I’m looking for guys who can recruit, because we have to continue to attract and convince these kids that this is the greatest opportunity in the world. Those are the three things that I was looking for, and I believe we attracted coaches that fit those three categories. Then you were able to get a head coach, a former head coach, in Al Golden – that is a huge addition for me in terms of a guy that’s done it, that can see things from a head coach’s sight. So, again, I think we have an unbelievable staff that is doing a great job and I think we’ll continue to do a great job.

Q: When you look at yourself, obviously as a first-year head coach, never done it before, that’s the constant talking point, right? First-year head coach. Was the hire of Al Golden and some of the other coaches, was there a thought of, “Okay, I don’t know what I don’t know?” Was there a thought of that as you put this staff together. or was it bring in the best guys and figure that part out? 

MF: "There’s a part of bringing in guys that have strengths, maybe where I have weaknesses at and that was on a couple of the hires, you know with Al Golden, and Harry Hiestand was just go get the best. Get the best that love young people still. He can recruit at his position. But, who I am, I don’t care what your strengths are, I’m going to ask for feedback. That’s who I am as a person, I believe the only way to grow is to seek feedback. We tell our players to do it, but our coaches have to do it. I have to do it. That doesn’t mean I’m always going to change the way I’m doing things, but I’m ok to put my ego aside, and just because I’m the head coach doesn’t mean that I have every answer. 

"So, seek feedback. I do it with our staff, I do it with other coaches in terms of how do I get better, how do I challenge myself? Challenge everything, right? Some people might not do it that way. That’s the way I believe it – utilize your staff, utilize the strengths that all these coaches have, the knowledge and try to do what you feel is best for your players and your program. That’s the way I’ll always continue to be."

Q: There was a lot of turnover on the staff; how has that process been as far as these guys getting together, working together, obviously building relationships? How do you feel about how your staff has been able to come together?

MF: "It’s been really good. I feel really good about this staff, and I’ve been intentional about making sure we over-communicate. We meet, because it’s my job to make sure I’m very clear on my expectations, and standards we have in our football program. That’s important. 

"So, I pull back and look at the big picture approach and say 'Hey, how do I continue to make sure us as a staff are on the same page?” So, we meet often, we over-communicate, so that the trust is earned. It can’t be taken for granted. We trust each other, we know exactly what the expectations are. We’re going to meet, we’re going to talk about it, we’re going to be together, and I feel really, really good about it right now."

Q: You hear it all the time – this is why Notre Dame shouldn’t be expected to be back in the playoff this year; first year head coach, first year QB, all these other kind of things, right? How do you handle that, as far as making sure your program knows hey look, none of that matters. The standard is the standard, and the standard at Notre Dame is to go out and compete for championships?

MF: "That’s the best way to put it. We have a standard and we have a goal and it is to be national champions. Now, we don’t talk about it often … how do we go about doing that? That’s developing this current roster to get as close to its maximum potential ability that we can. Then we go play your 12 guaranteed opportunities, you go play and hopefully you’re as close to that maximum level as you can, and it’s good enough to win. Or if it’s not good enough to win, then so be it. But you have to look at how you develop this roster, get it to play as close as it can on those 12 guaranteed opportunities, and let the results speak for themselves. 

"Then you evaluate it. Go back and evaluate, 'Okay, is there a better process to making sure we’re ready for this next guaranteed opportunity?' Then you go play, then you go evaluate it, is there a better way? That’s our mindset – develop, develop, develop. Go play that first game. Re-evaluate. Develop, develop, develop, go play. So that’s our process and our thought process."

Q: I’m familiar with what your defensive philosophy is. Do you have a philosophy on offense that you’d like to get to, or is it more about hiring a coach that you think can do A, B, C, and D? Ultimately in a perfect world, is he a run-oriented guy, or is he this or that?

MF: "I tell Tommy all the time, I want to be able to run the ball .... at will. Why? Because to me that opens up the pass game. If you can be a team that says I’m going to establish the run. I’m going to be able to run the ball no matter short yardage, no matter first down, we’re going to have to be able to show that we can run the ball. That truly opens up the pass game. 

"I’m not saying just be a team that, how many rushing yards are we going to get? No, that’s not what I’m saying. It’s a mentality of running the ball to be able to open up the pass game is so important. It can create so many different challenges to a defense. That’s important to me. I want to be able to utilize different tempos, I want to be able to make sure they have to defense 53 and a third (width of the field). Utilize different formations and widths of the football field to make them defend 53 and a third. So, that’s the mindset I have on offense. We’re going to be creative, but also aggressive."

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